Southampton take on Bristol City on Friday knowing that any result other than a defeat will see them start the New Year top of the Championship table. But Saints will be looking for all three points against a side struggling at the wrong end of the table and will they get them? (Southampton 4/9, Bristol City 7/1, draw 3/1 Match Prices).
Southampton have not sampled life in the Premier League for more than six years and there have been plenty of low points since relegation at the end of the 2004-2005 campaign after 27 years of top-flight football.
But things are now very much on the up and Nigel Adkins appears to have assembled a squad capable of returning to the promised land (Southampton 6/4 Championship Outright).
Whether they could stay there is another matter and a debate for another day, as Saints welcome the west country side to St Mary’s Stadium to try and add another three points to their impressive tally of 47.
The odds on a Southampton win reflect their dominance at home this season with just two points dropped to date and there seems no reason to suggest that their unbeaten record on the south coast will go on Friday evening.
If they avoid defeat it will mean that Saints have gone an entire calendar year unbeaten at home and that is a statistic that deserves to see the club return to the top tier of English football.
But City fans can take some heart from the fact that Adkins’ charges have not been in the best of form of late with just one win from their past four games, with Doncaster beating them at the Keepmoat Stadium and Blackpool spoiling their perfect home record with a 2-2 draw on December 10.
But it is still an ominous home record and, with Bristol hovering just above the relegation zone, Derek McInnes‘ side will have it all to do.
One positive for City is the fact that they have taken more points on the road this term than at Ashton Gate with three wins and three draws away from home already.
However, they have not won in five games with just two points out of a possible 15 from a 2-2 draw with Watford and a goalless draw at home to Nottingham Forest.
Indeed the last time the City fans celebrated a win was against Friday’s opponents, following a 2-0 victory over Southampton in Bristol on November 26.
That seems like a long time ago in football terms but at least the City players know that they can beat the table-toppers if they play to their potential.
A few Robins’ stars have been bullish about their chances of turning Southampton over with defender Lewin Nyatanga confident that they can do the double over the 1976 FA Cup winners.
But he and his fellow members of the rearguard will have to stop a rampant Saints side who have already scored 30 goals at home this term.
City have only scored 21 goals all season and 12 have come away from home and with uncertainty surrounding the future of top-scorer Nicky Maynard, it is unclear where the goals will come from on Friday night.
McInnes has defended the former Crewe Alexander man, who looks set to leave in the January transfer window, but it is open to question whether his head will be right for a game of this magnitude, given the fact that his own supporters have started to turn against him.
But City need him to play and to be on top of his game to have any chance of getting anything out of this one.
In terms of team news for Saints, Richard Chaplow looks set to miss the clash after picking up a knee injury in training while Steve De Ridder may keep his place in the Southampton side.
The heart says that the Robins might spring a surprise and take all three points but the head is definitively going to overrule and suggest that this will be a comfortable home win by at least two clear goals.
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